Lee, who formed the Hong Kong Alliance for Improving District Governance last week in support of the government's district council reform plan, said yesterday it had collected more than 1.19 million signatures from citizens by Saturday night.

The alliance began petitioning at street booths a week ago to collect signatures as endorsement of the government's plan to slash the number of directly elected council seats to 20 percent, representing only 88 of the 470 councilors.

A total of 176 councilors, representing 40 percent, will be selected through indirect elections, and a total of 179 government-appointed councilors will take up the remaining 40 percent. Among those petitioning at the street booths were Legislative Council members Priscilla Leung Mei-fun of the election committee, Kingsley Wong Kwok of the Federation of Trade Unions and Liberal Party chairman Peter Shiu Ka-fai.

Lee said the effort to support the reform involved setting up 4,921 street booths over the past 10 days.

Sources revealed last week that publicity campaigns would last for months to come, and that Legco members had received instructions to order each District Office to hold four street booths by the end of the month.

Lee said she felt inspired by the coalition's ability to collect over a million signatures, and that people were supportive of the government's move to reform the district councils.

"The new district council will definitely open a new page in long-term social stability and reinvent the function of the council," she said.

Asked whether the reported figures accurately represented overall public opinion, Lee claimed she felt the signatures signified support for "bringing the district councils back on track."